Prof. Sudhir Kumar Sopory is a distinguished scientist of the country. He had his education first in J&K University for his B.Sc. and M.Sc and then did his Doctorate at the University of Delhi in the field of Plant Biology.

An eminent Plant Molecular Biologist, Prof. Sopory began his academic career in the year 1973 as a faculty at the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. His teaching and research career spans over 40 years - as Visiting Scientist at Max-Planck-Institute, Koeln, Germany, University of Austin, USA, Plant Molecular Biology Lab, U.S. Department of Agriculture, USA, and University of Munich, Germany. Before assuming charge as Vice-Chancellor of JNU, he was the Group Leader at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology from 1997 to 2010.

Prof. Sopory has been awarded various National and International Awards for his pioneering contributions to Scientific Research and Teaching. Notable among them are: Padma Shri, Government of India, prestigious Bhatnagar Award of CSIR; Chakravorty Award; Birbal Sahni Medal of the Botanical Society; Birbal Sahni Birth Centenary Award of Indian Science Congress; Godnev Award Lecture of Belarus Academy of Sciences.

He is an elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (New Delhi); Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore); National Academy of Sciences ( Allahabad); National Academy of Agricultural Sciences(New Delhi) and The World Academy of Sciences (Trieste, Italy). Recently he has also been awarded Corresponding Membership Award of American Society for Plant Biology, 2010, the first time to an Indian.

Prof. Sopory has received D.Sc.(Honoris Causa) degree from Banaras Hindu University and Rani Durgavati University, Jabalpur.

He has to his credit 220 Research publications in refereed and Impact factor Journals; 13 edited books and over 50 chapters in books.

He has travelled widely participating in various National and International Seminars, Conferences and Workshops.